Junior Archaeology at Oriental Institute

By Elizabeth Diffin

Senior Editor

If your child longs to be the 21st century's Indiana Jones (do
they even know who that is anymore?), head to the Oriental
Institute Museum March 25 for some hands-on experience in
archaeology.

At Junior Archaeologists, families with kids 5 and up will be
assigned different trenches that correspond to the eras the museum
covers, from pre-history until about 500 B.C. Then they'll get to
dig, using authentic archaeological tools, and discover replicas of
actual artifacts found in Megiddo, a site in ancient Israel,
including items from Egypt, Mesopotamia and Persia.

Family programs coordinator Kat Silverstein says the day also
will provide an introduction to archaeological techniques and
principles, including the Law of Superposition, which says that the
oldest artifacts are on the bottom and the newest on top.

There will be a discussion about what the families found, and
then later, they can get a tour of the museum and learn more about
the ancient cultures they literally just dug up.

Junior Archaeologists is one of the museum's new family
programs, which included making clay pots in January and exploring
Nubian culture in February.

"Right now, our audience is really academic and it's a lot of
older folks," Silverstein says. "We are in the middle of a really
family-friendly area, and we want the next generation to come in
here and experience our collections in a new way. … We're putting
our toe in the water and seeing what happens."

Silverstein says the museum, with its emphasis on the ancient
world, appeals to families, and there are family activity cards in
each gallery. Kid-friendly highlights of the collection include a
giant statue of King Tut, who took the throne when he was only 9,
large parts of an Assyrian palace, games, toys, and a perpetual kid
favorite: mummies.

"I think they'll enjoy picturing the past and getting to engage
in that kind of romance and fantasy of the ancient Middle East and
Egypt," Silverstein says. "It's pretty fun for everyone. Everyone's
pretty surprised when they come here of what we have."

And as any aspiring archaeologist knows, the element of surprise
is key when you're in the business of digging up the past.